Urbanites and Nature: A Fantasy Disconnect

Updated Jan. 7, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

Jim Petersen's description of the plight of Jim Hurst's sawmill ("Cross Country: Death of a Sawmill," Dec. 29) and the effect that urbanite fantasies of nature are having on the environment and industry are right on the mark.

What many environmentalists also fail to realize is that the global demand for wood will always be met. So instead of harvesting dead trees in the American West, which are now denser than they were when...